$ cat ./records/european-commission-fines-microsoft-a-record-497-million-euros-fo-2004.txt
European Commission fines Microsoft a record 497 million euros for antitrust violations
[RECORD.TXT] · cat --full
The European Commission issued a landmark ruling against Microsoft, imposing a 497 million euro fine — the largest ever levied by the EU against a single company at that time — for illegally tying Windows Media Player to the Windows operating system and refusing to disclose interoperability information to competitors. The ruling required Microsoft to release a version of Windows without Media Player in Europe. Gates and Microsoft ultimately paid the fine and complied with the technical requirements after years of additional proceedings before the EU Court of First Instance.
Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/antitrust/eu-commission-decision
Free forever · No ads · Solo developer
If this was worth a read, help make the next entry possible.
Every entry in this archive was researched, verified, and written by one person — for free. No corporate funding. No ad revenue. Just a developer who believes verified history should be accessible to everyone. Your donation directly funds new entries.
Crypto accepted · No subscription required
← Previous
Pledged additional $50 million to the Global Fund at the G8 summit — bringing total to $150 million
Next →
Microsoft Pays AOL $750 Million Over Its Destruction of Netscape
[CROSS_REFERENCES] · grep --category='Business'
Related Accomplishments
2026
Gates Foundation Trust Sells Off the Last of Its Microsoft Stock
In the first quarter of 2026, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust sold its remaining Microsoft shares, fully exiting a position in the very company that created Gates's fortune — capping a long, deliberate diversification away from the stock. The endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy, managed separately from its grant-making through Cascade, is now anchored instead by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, railroads, and heavy-equipment makers. The sale underscored how thoroughly Gates's giving had decoupled from Microsoft's day-to-day fortunes.
2026
Gates's Charitable Endowment Is Now Led by Berkshire, Not Microsoft
By 2026, the publicly disclosed stock portfolio of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust — the endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy — was led not by Microsoft but by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, Canadian National Railway, Caterpillar, and Deere. Decades of diversification, plus Warren Buffett's stock gifts, left it concentrated in railroads, waste, heavy equipment, and Buffett's conglomerate, while Microsoft — the source of the original fortune — had largely been sold down. The unglamorous, value-oriented mix reflects the long stewardship of Gates's money manager, Michael Larson, through Cascade Investment.
[ARCHIVE_FUNDING] · INDEPENDENT · NO ADS
One developer. >300 verified entries. Zero ads. Forever free.
No sponsors, no paywall, no algorithm. If this archive has been useful to you, reader support is what keeps it running.